The quick commerce sector in India has entered a new phase. Blinkit is now profitable at the adjusted EBITDA level, while Swiggy Instamart is growing faster but spending heavily to regain share. The Q2 FY27 results show that scale alone is no longer enough—dark-store utilisation, order value and discount discipline now decide who can turn growth into profit.
What changed this quarter
Blinkit’s net order value rose 79.3% year on year to ₹20,940 crore. Its adjusted EBITDA turned positive at ₹184 crore, up from ₹102 crore in the June quarter. Moneycontrol reported Blinkit’s Q2 performance.
Instamart’s net order value rose 31.4% year on year to ₹6,594 crore. But its adjusted EBITDA loss widened to ₹895 crore from ₹778 crore in the June quarter. Swiggy’s Q2 press release confirmed the numbers.
| Metric | Blinkit | Instamart |
| Net order value | ₹20,940 crore | ₹6,594 |
| Year-on-year NOV growth | 79.3% | 31.4% |
| Orders | 398.9 million | 130 million |
| Dark stores | 2,751 | 1,240 |
| Net store additions | 308 | 69 [1439] |
| Contribution margin | 5.3% of NOV | -1.0% of GOV |
| Adjusted EBITDA | ₹184 crore | -₹895 crore |
| Adjusted EBITDA margin | 0.9% of NOV | -9.7% of GOV |
Blinkit: scale is turning into profit
Blinkit’s Q2 was its strongest quarter yet. Its net order value grew 79.3% year on year, while revenue rose 93.6% to ₹19,152 crore. Adjusted EBITDA improved to ₹184 crore, or 0.9% of net order value. Moneycontrol reported the financials.
The company processed 398.9 million orders, up from 331 million in the June quarter and 222.7 million a year earlier. Its net average order value rose to ₹525 from ₹518 in the previous quarter. Moneycontrol reported the order metrics. Blinkit added 308 net dark stores, taking its network to 2,751. It now plans to reach 3,500 stores by March 2027 and about 5,000 by March 2028. Moneycontrol reported the expansion target.
That expansion is not slowing profitability. Blinkit’s contribution margin remained at 5.3% of net order value, while adjusted EBITDA margin improved for the sixth consecutive quarter. Business Today reported the margin trend.
Instamart: growth is back, but costly
Instamart’s Q2 was stronger on growth, weaker on economics.
Its net order value rose 13.4% sequentially, compared with 2.5% in the June quarter. Gross order value rose 31.4% year on year to ₹9,230 crore. Swiggy’s Q2 press release confirmed the growth. The company added 69 dark stores, taking its network to 1,240 stores across 133 cities. Monthly transacting users rose 23% year on year to 14.8 million. The Economic Times reported the expansion.
But the growth came at a cost.
Instamart’s contribution margin fell 82 basis points sequentially to -1% of gross order value. Its adjusted EBITDA loss widened to ₹895 crore from ₹778 crore in the June quarter. Swiggy’s Q2 press release confirmed the margin deterioration.
Swiggy said the spending was aimed at customer reactivation, repeat ordering, differentiated assortment, availability and service quality. Swiggy’s Q2 press release explained the investment.
The discount problem is back
Discounts are once again driving quick commerce growth.
Brand-funded discounts accounted for 29% of Instamart’s order value in Q2, up from 26% in the June quarter. Business Today reported the discount trend. That means more of the order value is being subsidised. It helps attract users and increase order frequency, but it reduces the revenue the platform actually keeps.
Instamart’s contribution margin had broken even in May. By Q2, it had slipped back to -1% of gross order value. Business Today reported the margin reversal. Swiggy says these discretionary and temporary investments will reverse over the next couple of quarters. It estimates the change will add about 80 basis points to contribution margin once complete. Business Today reported management’s guidance.
The measurement problem
Blinkit and Instamart do not report margins on exactly the same base.
Blinkit reports its margins as a percentage of net order value, which is what customers actually pay after discounts and deductions. Moneycontrol reported Blinkit’s margin basis.
Swiggy reports Instamart’s margins as a percentage of gross order value, which is sales before discounts. Swiggy’s Q2 press release confirmed the reporting basis.
That makes direct comparison difficult.
Motilal Oswal calculated that Instamart’s adjusted EBITDA margin, measured against net order value, worsened to -13.7% from -13.2% in the June quarter. Business Today reported the adjusted comparison.
On that basis, Blinkit’s 0.9% adjusted EBITDA margin looks even stronger.
Dark-store utilisation matters
Quick commerce is a fixed-cost business. Each dark store needs rent, staff, inventory, delivery riders and technology. Profitability improves when a store handles more orders without a proportional increase in costs.
Instamart’s orders per dark store per day rose about 9.5% sequentially to around 1,192. DSIJ reported the utilisation metric. Blinkit’s orders per dark store per day were 1,611. DSIJ reported the comparison.
That is a meaningful gap. Blinkit’s stores are handling about 35% more orders per day than Instamart’s. Higher utilisation spreads fixed costs across more orders. That improves contribution margin and makes each new dark store more likely to become profitable faster.
Festive demand helped, but did not solve everything
The September quarter benefited from festive demand, higher order frequency and expanded product selection.
Swiggy said Instamart’s growth was supported by 1.3 million additional monthly transacting users, user-reactivation pricing, differentiated assortment and network expansion. DSIJ reported the growth drivers.
Blinkit benefited from stronger order volumes, higher average order value and continued store expansion. Moneycontrol reported Blinkit’s growth drivers.
But festive demand is seasonal. The real test is whether order frequency, basket size and store utilisation remain strong in the December quarter.
Conclusion
Quick commerce has changed. Blinkit has shown that scale can produce positive adjusted EBITDA. Instamart has shown that growth can still be expensive. The Q2 results do not prove that the sector has solved profitability. They prove that the gap between leaders is widening.
Blinkit is using scale, store utilisation and order value to improve margins. Instamart is using discounts, new stores and customer incentives to regain growth. The next few quarters will show whether that spending produces lasting market share—or simply delays the profitability question.
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